Samurai Jack (season 5)

The fifth and final season of '' Samurai Jack'', an American animated series, premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on March 11, 2017, and concluded its run on May 20, 2017. The announcement of the season came in December 2015, eleven years since the series was originally concluded on Cartoon Network. Genndy Tartakovsky, the series' creator, returned as a director, writer, and storyboarder for this season. Set approximately 50 years after the original four seasons, it follows the titular character, who has not biologically aged in this time, as he aimlessly wanders the Earth with his sword lost and seemingly no remaining means of returning to his native time to destroy the demon Aku, who sent him to the distant future in the series premiere. His hope is gradually restored when he convinces Ashi, an assassin from an all-female Aku-worshipping cult, to join his cause.

The season received universal acclaim from both critics and fans, praising it for its visuals as well as its more dark, intense, mature tone, and deeming it a satisfying conclusion to the series.

Plot

The fifth season of the series takes place 50 years after the original four seasons, although Jack himself has stopped aging as a side effect of time travel. Aku has destroyed all existing time portals but is distressed over the prospect of battling Jack forever, so he has stopped pursuing him directly. Jack's heroic actions have inspired many to oppose Aku's tyranny, among them the now-elderly Scotsman, who unsuccessfully leads armies in a battle against Aku and is killed by him but returns as the spirit of his younger self. Unknown to Aku, Jack has lost his sword, and is troubled by hallucinations of his deceased family, his former self, and Aku's numerous victims, almost to the point of suicide.

A set of fraternal septuplet girls are born from Aku's essence to the high priestess of a cult of female Aku worshipers, the "Daughters of Aku", and raised as assassins with the sole purpose of killing Jack. They find and overwhelm Jack, but he later kills all but one of them, Ashi, the eldest. In the bowels of a monster that swallows them both, Jack saves her from various dangers, attempting to convince her of Aku's evil. Deciding to accompany Jack, Ashi comes to see the truth of Jack's words, and helps him through his emotional and spiritual journey, preventing a suicide attempt and helping him reclaim his sword. Following a battle alongside each other, they become romantically involved.

Aku eventually learns that Jack lost his sword and confronts him, not knowing Jack has recovered it in the interim. However, Aku senses his essence within Ashi, and seizes control of her in order to attack Jack. Jack refuses to kill Ashi and lays down his sword in defeat. Aku takes Jack prisoner and prepares to kill him, but everyone Jack has helped throughout his journey rallies to his defense. Jack admits to Ashi he loves her, enabling her to regain control of herself. She returns the sword to Jack and uses demonic powers she inherited from Aku to time travel with Jack to the moment when Aku sent Jack to the future, whereupon Jack destroys the weakened Aku for good. With peace restored, Ashi and Jack prepare to marry, but on her way to the altar, she suddenly collapses, as slaying Aku invalidates her existence, causing her to fade away.

The series ends with a grieving Jack smiling when he watches a ladybug land on his hand and then fly free in a grove of blossoming sakura trees.

Development

Background

Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, ''Samurai Jack'' originally aired on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004, comprising four seasons. The series follows a young samurai (voiced by Phil LaMarr) who is cast into the future by the evil shape-shifting demon Aku (voiced originally by Mako, Greg Baldwin (fifth season)) mere moments before defeating the demon. He adopts the name Jack and continues his fight in the dystopian future ruled by Aku. Jack seeks to find a portal back to his time but is constantly thwarted by the demon's forces. The series was left open-ended after the conclusion of the fourth season. Tartakovsky previously expressed interest in a film adaptation of the series to provide a genuine conclusion, but the project never materialized.

Production

Starting in 2014, reruns of ''Samurai Jack'' were aired on Toonami, an action-oriented programming block on Adult Swim. Within two weeks of Tartakovsky's first communication with executive Mike Lazzo, a deal was reached for 10 more episodes of the series. The network released a short teaser in December 2015 after it green-lit the return of the series with Genndy Tartakovsky as executive producer and Cartoon Network Studios as the season's production company. Artwork used in the teaser derived from the cover of an issue from IDW Publishing's comic book adaptation of the series. The new season received further mention ahead of the network's 2016 upfront press release. The fifth season was announced for the 2016–17 television season. Work-in-progress excerpts were shared at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. According to Tartakovsky, having a small production team allowed for a smaller budget, faster schedule, and greater creative freedom for the team, and executive producer Mike Lazzo gave the team a free hand, with minimal intervention in the production. Changes in television animation storytelling since the cartoon's original series allowed the show to shift from episodic storytelling, where each episode is more or less independent from the others, to one cohesive serialized story that will conclude Jack's journey. The serialized format allows every episode to have a "reveal" that takes the show in a different direction. The final episode was storyboarded in October 2016, and Tartakovsky expressed hope it would have a very emotional impact on the audience. All the original ''Samurai Jack'' episodes are designated by Roman numerals, and the original series ended with episode "LII" (52). Season five opens with episode "XCII" (92); the jump in numbering signifies the elapsed time from the last episode of season four.

Casting

Phil LaMarr reprises his role as Jack, and John DiMaggio reprises his role as the Scotsman, a fan-favorite ally of Jack's. Sab Shimono reprises his role as the Emperor, Jack's unnamed father who originally vanquished Aku. Due to the death of Mako, who originally voiced Aku, Tartakovsky at first considered using a completely different voice for the character. However, considering how Mako's voice was an important element of the character, voice actor Greg Baldwin was brought in to mimic the original voice. Baldwin had previously served as Mako's replacement for the voice of Iroh during the final season of '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and the second and third seasons of ''The Legend of Korra''. Tara Strong and Tom Kenny, who guest starred in the previous seasons, respectively voice the season's recurring characters Ashi and Scaramouche.

Themes

The season explores the hero's journey and the identity of the hero when his journey stagnates. Choice and lack of choice are explored: in Jack's introspections and actions; in the actions of Jack's enemies; in the contrast between humans who choose their actions and machines which are programmed; and in destiny and fate which offer no choice. Of the distinction and parallel between robots and humans, Tartakovsky said: "I wanted to show the human side that's been treated like a machine. Aku builds robots and all these robots are singularly programmed to kill Jack. What if it's humans? What if the one purpose in your whole life is to kill this one person and you're raised from birth that way?" Angelica Jade Bastién of ''New York'' magazine writes that there is a "distinctive undercurrent of loneliness stretching through the series from start to finish." Jack is often alone, dwarfed by the "grand solemnity of nature." He has lost his home and his relationship with his family, and in the final episode he loses his relationship with the woman he is about to marry.

Cast

* Phil LaMarr – Samurai Jack, Host, Frog, Mad Jack, additional voices
* Greg Baldwin – Aku, additional voices
* Tara Strong – Ashi, Avi, Vision, additional voices
* Grey Griffin – High Priestess, Flora, Olivia
* Sab Shimono – The Emperor
* Lauren Tom – Mother
* Tom Kenny – Scaramouche, Chritchellite
* Kari Wahlgren – Ami, Aki, additional voices
* Chris Parnell – Mud Alien, Scientist
* Keone Young – Bandit, Monk
* Corey Burton – Crow
* John DiMaggio – Scotsman
* Aaron LaPlante – Dominator, The Omen
* Kevin Michael Richardson – Woolie #1, Demongo
* Keegan-Michael Key – Da' Samurai
* Daran Norris – additional voices
* Billy West – additional voices
* Rob Paulsen – Sir Rothchild (credited as a Dog)
* Jeff Glen Bennett – additional voices
* Mako – Past Aku (via archived recording)

Episodes

Broadcast

On January 24, 2017, Adult Swim announced in an interstitial bumper that the show would debut on March 11, 2017. The first three episodes of the season were screened at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles two days before the season's television premiere. An unannounced change in schedule on April Fools' Day supplanted a new ''Samurai Jack'' episode with the premiere of the third season of ''Rick and Morty'', which aired repeatedly from 8 PM to midnight ET.

Home media

This season is available in HD and SD for digital purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Vudu, and PlayStation Store.

Full season release

The full season set was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 17, 2017. In Australia it was released by Madman Entertainment

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds an approval rating of 100% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10, with the critics' consensus reading: "An increasing intensity and maturity are evident in ''Samurai Jack''s beautifully animated, action-packed and overall compelling fifth season". On Metacritic the season has an average score of 94 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Joshua Yehl of IGN called it a "double-edged season" referring to the contrast between the presentation and the story. He called the presentation, artistry, animation and sound design masterful, in contrast to the story that didn't always deliver satisfying answers to the questions introduced early in the season, despite being more mature and sophisticated than the original show.

Although many people consider the finale as a satisfying conclusion, some criticized it for Jack not being given a happier ending. Tartakovsky explained that he and the production staff had initially planned for Jack to fall in love, then lose that love in order to retain the series' overarching theme of making sacrifices to serve a greater purpose. He commented, "I feel like we would be cheating if everything was happy and perfect at the end...It didn’t feel right. We thought about it, for sure. 'Why don't we give it a happy ending?' Instinctively, we knew that it would be wrong."

Alternate Finale

To address some of the criticisms towards the finale, video game publisher Adult Swim Games partnered with video game developer Soleil Ltd. to create a game that would serve as an alternative scenario. Although Tartakovsky was initially disinterested and wanted nothing to do with the game, believing it was going to be a mediocre cash grab like the previous games '' Amulet of Time'' and '' Shadow of Aku'', Adult Swim Games insisted that Soleil could deliver a quality product. After being persuaded by the publisher, Tartakovsky enlisted Season 5 head writer Darrick Bachman to keep the game's writing authentic to the series and to write around the perimeters set by the game's publisher for the developers, which was to include elements from all 5 seasons. The result was the 2020 action game '' Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time'', which Tartakovsky approved of and pronounced canon. In the game, as Jack is making his journey home, Aku diverts him into a "timeless realm" from which he must escape with Ashi while reliving battles from the entire series. If the player collects all the kamons belonging to Jack's father but corrupted by Aku, they can unlock an alternate ending where Jack and Ashi live together happily ever after regardless of Aku's destruction thanks to the time pocket copy of the future preventing Ashi's nonexistence. The game received a generally positive critical reception but was later removed from all digital stores across all platforms, alongside several other Cartoon Network games, on December 23, 2024.

Notes

References

{{Samurai Jack

2017 American animated television seasons
5
Fiction about matricide
Fiction about post-traumatic stress disorder
Television about mental health
Television shows about time travel